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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry
Sec. Child Mental Health and Interventions
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frcha.2025.1520291
This article is part of the Research Topic Navigating global instability: risk and resilience in youth mental health View all 3 articles

A consensus statement on child and family health during the COVID-19 pandemic and recommendations for post-pandemic recovery and re-build

Provisionally accepted
Caroline A.B. Redhead Caroline A.B. Redhead 1Sergio A. Silverio Sergio A. Silverio 2,3*Elana Payne Elana Payne 2,3Mari Greenfield Mari Greenfield 4SARA MELANIE BARNETT SARA MELANIE BARNETT 5Anna Chiumento Anna Chiumento 6Beth Holder Beth Holder 5Helen Skirrow Helen Skirrow 5Ofelia Torres Ofelia Torres 3Carmen Power Carmen Power 7Staci Weiss Staci Weiss 8Laura A Magee Laura A Magee 3Soo Downe Soo Downe 9Lucy Frith Lucy Frith 1Claire Cameron Claire Cameron 10
  • 1 The University of Manchester, Manchester, England, United Kingdom
  • 2 University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
  • 3 King's College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 4 The Open University (United Kingdom), Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom
  • 5 Imperial College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 6 University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
  • 7 Independent Researcher, Bristol, United Kingdom
  • 8 University of Roehampton London, Roehampton, London, United Kingdom
  • 9 University of Central Lancashire, Preston, England, United Kingdom
  • 10 University College London, London, England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: As health systems struggled to respond to the catastrophic effects of SARS-CoV-2, infection prevention and control measures significantly impacted on the delivery of non-COVID children's and family health services. The prioritisation of public health measures significantly impacted supportive relationships, revealed their importance for both mental and physical health and well-being. Drawing on findings from an expansive national collaboration, and with the well-being of children and young people in mind, we make recommendations here for post-pandemic recovery and re-build.Methods: This consensus statement is derived from a cross-disciplinary collaboration of experts.Working together discursively, we have synthesised evidence from collaborative research in child and family health during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have identified and agreed priorities areas for both action and learning, which we present as recommendations for research, healthcare practice, and policy. Results: The synthesis led to immediate recommendations grouped around what to retain and what to remove from 'pandemic' provision and what to reinstate from pre-pandemic, healthcare provision in these services. Longer-term recommendations for action were also made. Those relevant to children's well-being concern equity and relational healthcare. Discussion: The documented evidence-base of the effects of the pandemic on children's and family services is growing, providing foundations for the post-pandemic recovery and re-setting of child and family health services and care provision. Recommendations contribute to services better aligning with the values of equity and relational healthcare, whilst providing wider consideration of care and support for children and families in usual vs. extra-ordinary health system shock circumstances.

    Keywords: Consensus statement, COVID-19, children's services, Children and families, relationality

    Received: 31 Oct 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Redhead, Silverio, Payne, Greenfield, BARNETT, Chiumento, Holder, Skirrow, Torres, Power, Weiss, Magee, Downe, Frith and Cameron. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sergio A. Silverio, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.